A Gift of Sound
The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Spring 2018

essay by Sally B. Brown
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

My fourth Bulletin for The Met, this one celebrated the reinstallation of the Museum’s musical instruments galleries, which grew from the nucleus of a collection formed and donated by Mary Elizabeth Adams Brown in the late 19th century. The frontispiece (actually the inside front cover on Bulletins) shows the collection as it was originally installed at The Met. Another tricky book: loads of illustrations, lengthy text and captions, and it all had to fit in 48 pages. I chose Ideal Sans from Hoefler & Co. for a light, modern feel and a ragged setting to keep the long text measure from being too tiring on the reader.

Softcover, 8.5 × 11"